Wasen Boat Ride — Attraction in Takamatsu

The boat ride ticket counter is not directly accessible from the car park. You need to enter through the East Gate and first purchase an entrance ticket to the garden, then only can you reach the boat ride ticket counter to buy your boat ticket.

We made an online reservation weeks earlier and nearly missed our slot because the entrance was not as direct as shown on Google Maps.

The boat ride itself does not go around the entire garden, only a small section (though it is the most beautiful part). A hat was provided for each passenger, and the boatman kindly explained as much as he could about the history and stories of the garden. Towards the end, he even sang an Italian song for us.

Overall, summer is not the best season to visit, as it was far too...

Absolutely outstanding. We don't speak Japanese, but they have really put a lot of effort into making this boat trip as accessible as possible for foreigners. They have translations of their safety briefing & tour notes in several different languages, and our guide had a translation device that gave us some key information on some of the sights around the lake.

One thing to bear in mind is that you need to reserve your boat tickets as soon as you arrive in the park; we had to wait for 3 hours to get a...

It's definitely worth a try. After entering Ritsurin Park, I first reserved a spot and bought a ticket for the wasen ride. Since it was a weekday, the wait wasn’t too long—about 30 minutes—and then I was able to board. Kawai-san, our boatman, was not only kind and informative but also really fun, which made the ride even...